OBJECT LEGACIES
This student led project places emphasis on research into community identity, personal history, family heritage and social and political oral histories. Each student is responsible for exploring the history of the object by developing an highly detailed 3d object through the process of photogrammetry and an interview with a primary source (at least one maximum 3 sources) who can reveal important objective information about the origin, history and meaning related to the object.
Project Introduction Pickled Plum: Jacqueline Chou
For this project, I chose a jar of pickled plums that are made according to a secret recipe handed down in my family. For convenience, I also made a model of a single plum from the jar.
The pickled plums recipe stands a significant part of my mother side of the family. It was developed by my Great grandfather, which means that the recipe is almost a hundred years old.
My great grandfather was a mix between Han Taiwanese and Native-Taiwanese. During my his time, Taiwan was under colonial occupation of the Japanese. In this interview with my grandparents, I asked them whether the pickled plum recipe had any correlation with any of those cultures. They told me that there is a low possibility that the recipe is influenced by Han or Native Taiwanese culture; there can be further research into this question. However, they confirmed that there are major Japanese elements in the recipe. Plums are an indispensable element of Japanese daily meals. They often finish their meal with a cup of plum tea or a shot of plum vinegar to help digestion.
The fruit also has other benefits for the human body. During the inter view, my grandpa took out a book called Compendium of Materia Medica to provide more information to the subject. The book is written during the Ming Dynasty by a pharmacologist called Shizhen Li. It was the most detailed book in Chinese medicine history. According to the book, plums can regulate human body acidity in healthy bodies. The primary functions for patients are ceasing cough and diarrhea symptoms.
Historically, plums are often used as food supplement in Taiwanese household. In this interview, we’ll discover how Taiwanese family make the plum, and how they prepare the specific recipe. Also, the story of my family heritage.
Project Introduction Gold Bar: Jordan Wang
The object I have chosen to 3D scan is a gold bar from my grandfather. who entrusted this to me before he passed away. Thus, the gold bar, to me, is a connection between my grandfather and I. Also, in Chinese culture, the gold bar represents the last red envelope and blessings from the deceased.
If you examine the front side of the gold bar, an inscription of its origin describes KingFook Company, founded in 1949, Hong Kong. This company currently engages in jewelry retailing and gold bar trading, and its motto since the corporation started has always been “Integrity, Diligence, and Professionalism.”
Upon further examination, two numbers, 9999 and 5000 have been inscribed on the bar. The former indicates the bar is made up of 99.99% pure gold. As for the latter, it is an ancient weight measure in China called liang, and 1 liang equals approximately 37.8 grams. So 5000, which also means 5 liangs, is equivalent to about 189 grams. For conventional gold price, the gold bar has a value of 260,000 NT dollars.
Regarding the manner in which this object became part of my family’s legacy was motivated by a historic moment. After World War II, the Chinese Democratic Party, called KMT, and Communist Party immediately came into conflict. Eventually, the force of the communist party outcompeted KMT and took over the entire mainland China, forcing many KMT members to flee mainland China. This is when my great grandparents bought gold bars and brought them across the Taiwanese Strait.